4sept01

"ANALYZING THE SOIL . . ." New Mexico Tech mathematics professor Brian Borchers (pictured on left) and hydrology professor Jan Hendrickx (pictured on right) recently welcomed Russell Harmon (middle, with baseball cap on), chief scientist of the terrestrial sciences branch of the U.S. Army Research Office, with a tour of the university’s new Outdoor Counter Land Mine Research Facility, located just west of the university campus. Borchers, Hendrickx, and Harmon were joined by a trio of other Tech scientists, which included Xiaobing Zhou (middle right, with straw hat on), research assistant professor of hydrology; Remke van Dam (talking with Harmon), postdoctoral research associate in hydrology; and Sung-Ho Hong (middle left, with blue shirt on), a doctoral student in Tech’s hydrology program. The Tech researchers are studying how soil variants, such as the composition and moisture content of various soils, affect the accuracy of currently employed land-mine detection methods and technology, and are developing and field-testing models based on their research findings.